Today’s couples are completely changing who and how they identify their wedding hosts on their wedding invitations. A recent myth-busting article from WeddingChannel.com (Top 10 Wedding Myths) revealed that many couples these days ARE their own hosts, and they aren’t afraid to say so on the wedding invitation.

The tradition that is now being called a “myth” was that the bride’s parents’ names appeared on the top of the wedding invitation. This was to give them top billing as the event’s hosts, both because of tradition as well as to recognize that the bride’s parents were footing the bill.

But both tradition and financing have changed this for many reasons, not the least of which is Modern Day Family Realities we’ve blogged about before. So we scoured our own samples at LookLoveSend.com for some ideas about how today’s couples can modernize the wording on their invitations:

Groom’s parents also hosting, either financially or involved in wedding planning:

Together with our parents

[Bride's father's & mother's names]

and

[Groom's father's & mother's names]

We,

[Bride's name]

and

[Groom's name]

invite you to share in the joy

of beginning our new life together.

Couple is paying for their own wedding:

With joyous hearts

we invite you to attend

the wedding of

[Bride's name]

and

[Groom's name]

Couple is paying for their wedding but wants to acknowledge a more traditional hosting role for their parents:

It is our moment to celebrate

the love that unites us

[Bride's name]

and

[Groom's name]

Together with our parents

we invite you to share with us . . .

For trickier situations such as divorce and remarriage, guidelines from our previous blog (Modern Day Family Realities) can help simplify things. Mainly just remember that when recognizing either set of parents by name on the wedding invitation, it is still proper etiquette to use the bride’s natural mother’s name first, whether or not you include a second spouse on the same line. The same goes for putting the bride’s name first if the couple is hosting their own wedding…ladies first still stands!

For a closer look at wedding invitation designs and their sample wording suggestions, visit LookLoveSend.com. If your wedding date is set for 2012, be sure to enter the Wedding Invitation Sweepstakes for the chance to win a complete wedding invitation set, up to a $1500 value.